Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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244. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the new forestry programme application; the expected timeframe for the commencement of the programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22297/23]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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246. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if recent ongoing engagement between his Department officials and the European Commission will ensure the application for state aid approval will be ratified without further delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22299/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 244 and 246 together.

The new and ambitious €1.3bn Forestry Programme 2023-2027 will replace the previous Forestry Programme of 2014-2020 (extended to 2022) which expired at the end of 2022.

My Department has been engaging intensively with the Commission over the last few months.

Once State Aid approval that has been received we will be in a position to launch the new Programme, pending finalisation of the Strategic Environmental Assessment, which I am assured is nearing completion.

In addition, my Department recently received State aid approval through the Agricultural Block Exemption Regulation (EU) 2022/2472 for some of the measures in the draft Forestry Programme 2023-2027.

These include the Forest Road Scheme, Innovative Forest Technology Scheme, Reconstitution Scheme, Reconstitution Scheme for Ash Dieback, Forestry Knowledge Transfer Groups (KTGs), Training Call for proposals, Forest Promotion and Continuous Professional Development. My Department are now accepting application for forest roads and for the Innovative Forest Technology Scheme – Module 2: Investment Aid for the Development of the Forest Tree Nursery Sector. We are examining the possibilities to open a number of the other schemes for applications very shortly.

I launched the InterimDe Minimisscheme for afforestation and roads to help bridge the lacuna between the old and new Forestry Programmes. As you are aware, there are 1,023 approved afforestation licences with 7,591 ha ready for planting and to date over 1,600ha hectares have been approved for planting under the Interim De Minimis scheme.

I assure you that the launch of the new €1.3bn Forestry Programme 2023-2027 is a matter of the utmost priority for me and my Department.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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245. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will confirm that the backlog in felling licences is now dealt with; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22298/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has delivered considerable reductions in the backlog of all forestry licences as well as reductions in the time taken to process newer files and last year we had another significant year-on-year increase in the number of licences issued.

The overall backlog of licences on hand over four months reduced from 6,000 applications in August 2021, to 3,700 applications at the start of 2022 to 1,764 to 5th May. The progress in reducing the backlog is expected to continue through 2023.

My Department continues to issue and accept felling licence applications and has to date this year issued 1,066 felling licences.  In 2022, we issued 817 more felling licences than felling applications received. Furthermore, last year we issued record levels of felling licences at 3,293 for 9.6 million cubic metres of wood, or 46,027 Hectares. These licences have up to 10 year timelines and are  being  used by forest owners providing work for forestry contractors and supplying sawmills.

As of 5th May 2023, there were a total of 2,144 felling licence applications on hand, with 1,091 of these on hand over 120 days. Average turnaround times are falling overall and this is most evident in files received post-2021. My Department is actively working with applicants to finalise any outstanding information required to allow decisions to be made on their applications.

For those applications for which other issues arise, my Department has a programme in place to contact applicants, to allow decisions to be made whether to continue to process the application or to close them out. 

Both Minister of State Pippa Hackett, who has overall responsibility for the sector, and I are fully committed to delivering a licensing system which will meets the needs of the sector and of society and recent licensing trends for felling applications demonstrate the progress made towards achieving this. The issues that led to the felling licence backlog have largely been resolved and the bulk of those older files with us are due to issues not related to a lack of resources within my Depart